Stories that Speak to Us: Exhibits from the Digital Archive of Literacy Narratives

So, I was given the gift of deafness . . . and I will live with that gift.—ASL Instructor, The Ohio State Universitybrueggemann

Articulating Betweenity: Literacy, Language, Identity, and Technology in the Deaf/Hard-of-Hearing Collection

by Brenda Jo Brueggemann (writer) & and Julia Voss (designer)

Computers and Composition Digital Press2011TextStories that Speak to Us: Exhibits from the Digital Archive of Literacy Narratives

Abstract | This exhibit is grounded in articulating the various ways that a concept of betweenity threads throughout most, if not all, of the DALN “Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing” (DHH) narratives. Featuring nine subjects from the DHH set on the DALN, I develop these particular betweenity themes further:

  • The making of Deaf Theory and application of “deaf insight”;
  • The dual purpose of technology serving as a literacy tool and a form of passing for deaf people in a hearing world;
  • The ways in which education—being educated, employing self-education, and educating others about what deafness is and isn’t—both advances and restrains deaf lives;
  • The prominence of mediation and pronunciation in the intersection between “deafness” and “literacy”;
  • The mediating, multi-purposed, educational, and theoretical power of captioning as a master moment of betweenity.

About the Curators | Brenda Jo Brueggemann is a Professor of English and Disability Studies at Ohio State University. She is the author of two books, editor (or co-editor) of 5 collections, current editor of the “Deaf Lives” Series at Gallaudet University Press, and Co-Editor of the journal, Disability Studies Quarterly. All of her work principally applies rhetorical theory and analysis—as well as creative non-fiction forms—to Disability Studies and Deaf Studies.

Julia Voss is a PhD candidate in the Rhetoric, Composition, and Literacy Program in the Department of English at Ohio State University. She earned a BA in History and English from Seattle University and an MA in English from Ohio State, where she is currently working on her PhD. She is currently working on a project that explores how individuals accumulate the digital literacies they need to meet specific rhetorical challenges.

Technical Requirements | This exhibit has been tested with Mozilla Firefox 8, Safari 5.1.2 for Windows, Google Chrome 16.0.912.75, and Internet Explorer 9.0.8112. Chrome and Internet Explorer users may need to enable plug-ins to play videos.

All embedded video clips are captioned, but full-text transcripts of the original video literacy narratives are available as part of the DALN record for each narrative. Links to the full DALN record for each literacy narrative used in this exhibit are included on the Primary Sources page of the exhibit.

Cite this Exhibit

MLA: Brueggemann, Brenda Jo. “Articulating Betweenity: Literacy, Language, Identity, and Technology in the Deaf/Hard-of-Hearing Collection.” Stories That Speak to Us: Exhibits from the Digital Archive of Literacy Narratives. Ed. H. Lewis Ulman, Scott Lloyd DeWitt, & Cynthia L. Selfe. Logan, UT: Computers and Composition Digital Press, 2013. Web.

APA: Brueggemann, B. J. (2013). Articulating Betweenity: Literacy, Language, Identity, and Technology in the Deaf/Hard-of-Hearing Collection. In H. L. Ulman, S. L. DeWitt, & C. L. Selfe (Eds.), Stories that Speak to Us: Exhibits from the Digital Archive of Literacy Narratives. Logan, UT: Computers and Composition Digital Press.

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